Cambodia: The Handwriting on the Wall

CAMBODIA: THE HANDWRITING ON THE WALL
STATEMENT OF SENATOR MIKE MANSFIELD (D., MONTANA)
Mr. President:
.·,
~fr 1~,1t11
ee~~emee~ ~, ·9~·
A year and a half has elapsed since the military overthrow of
Prince Sihanouk and the subsequent U. s. incursion into Cambodia. At the
time, these events were hailed as quickening the end of the war in Viet
Nam. A year and a half later, the war still goes on and this obscure
episode of the long tragedy of Indochina is all but forgotten.
It is not forgotten, however, by the families of more than 350
Americans who died in the Cambodian invasion. Nor is it forgotten by the
hundreds of other Americans who were wounded in that brief campaign. Nor
is it forgotten, I should think, in Cambodian villages which have since
been bombed or burned, undoubtedly, in order "to save them."
In retrospect, what was really achieved by the Cambodian gambit?
Enemy Vietnamese forces--even the "high command"--were supposed to have
been killed or captured in their "sanctuary" along the Vietnamese-Cambodian
border by this essay. Well, to the extent that enemy forces were there in
the first place, they withdrew from the border and since then, about all of
Cambodia has become the enemy "sanctuary." Cambodia has also emerged as
another battlefield of the Indochina war over which Americans are flying
and dying. The indications are, moreover, that Cambodians are forming into
an expanding guerrilla force under the banner of Prince Sihanouk and,
together with their Vietnamese allies, have already taken control of most
of the countryside.
Mike Mansfield Papers, Series 21, Box 47, Folder 68, Mansfield Library, University of Montana
..
- 2 -
It should be noted, in this connection, that before the govern-ment
of Sihanouk was overthrown, nothing--zero--in the way of U. s. aid
was going from this nation to Cambodia. Nevertheless, Cambodians were
managing to live in a self-supporting and moderately progressive fashion.
Their country was an oasis of order in war-torn Indochina. In one and a
half years of coup-government in Pnom Penh the picture has been completely
reversed. Cambodia is being reduced to chaos and devastation, even as the
present Cambodian government is now well on its way to receiving its first
billion dollars in direct or indirect support from the United States. The
aid is going forth, moreover, notwithstanding our own financial difficulties.
In support of the Cambodian coup-government, this nation has
become deeply involved in the internal affairs of still another people
of Southeast Asia. The present Cambodian rulers are, for all practical
purposes, dependents of this nation and the indications are that U. s.
support--direct and indirect--is the sole significant prop which keeps
the political-military structure in Pnom Penh from falling apart. To
administer this support, the Executive Branch is rapidly expanding a
U. s. official mission in Cambodia which already numbers well over a
hundred Americans--civilian and military. The increase, I believe, comes
Mt~e t'h,., .,_.N• F•LJ.
to A in U. S. personnel in Cambodia in the year and a half since
the overthrow of Sihanouk. At the same time, aid is also being provided
indirectly by U. S. bombing here and there and everywhere in Cambodia in
support of Pnom Penh's so-called national forces.
Mike Mansfield Papers, Series 21, Box 47, Folder 68, Mansfield Library, University of Montana
- 3 -
I sometimes wonder how we let ourselves get involved in these
travesties of foreign policy which, rather than serve th1interests of
this nation give every appearance of being at complete odds with those
int erests. Cambodia is not t he first case of this kind, of course, but
it is certainly one of the most blatant.
The irony of this situation is that the trend' of present Cambodian
policy, insofar as I can see, runs strongly counter not only to the expressed
I
inclinations of theCongress but also to the Nixon Doctrine which was supposed
l
to provide the guidelines of that policy. Clearly, what is being done in
Canbodia in the name of the United States is a complete distortion of the
initiatives with regard to Cambodia which were taken by the President shortly
after he assumed office. At thet time, the President's aim was to restore
friendly relations with the kind of inner-based Cambodian government which
Prince Sihanouk was attemptipg to maintain in circumstances of tight-rope
difficulty. These were initiatives, may I say, which by request as well as
inclination, I sought, personally, to support at the time both here and in
Sout heast Asia.
A series of three articles on Cambodia by T. D. Allman which appear
in recent issues of the Manchester Guardian shed a good deal of light on the
factors which lead to t he making of ".Cambodia's" in United States foreign
policy. The art icles make clear t hat much of what has happened there has
been guided not so much by the President 's initiat ives or t he intent of
Congr ess but by t h e availability of copious funds which permit agencies of
t his government an easy indulgence in t hese questionable enterprises. In
t hat sense, the source of the difficulty is t o be sought, not in Cambodia,
Mike Mansfield Papers, Series 21, Box 47, Folder 68, Mansfield Library, University of Montana
- 4 -
but in certain Southeast Asian obsessions in the Executive Branch and a
somewhat indiscriminate readiness in the Congress, in the past, to finance
them.
What has happened in Cambodia highlights a problem that seems to
me to confront the Senate on an urgent basis. The Cambodian experience is
an admonition to curb the easy outflow of the financial resources of the
people of this nation which, for years, has been legislated in the name of
national defense and foreign aid. In the case of Cambodia, the hundreds of
millions of dollars already spent in a year and a half have done hardly any-thing
for the defense of this nation except, perhaps, to weaken it by wastage.
Nor have these expenditures helped the Cambodian people who have now been
reduced to the common denominator of the irrelevant devastation which has .
been suffered in Laos and Viet Nam.
The articles previously mentioned are not unrelated to the legisla-
~~~
tion which ~before us and to the foreign aid bill which will be coming
before us in the not too distant future. One might well ask how much of
the funds authorized in this bill will go for procurement of military materiel
to be exploded in or over Cambodia in the name of the defense of the United
,too,
States.~ How much/of the foreign aid bill that is coming to us shortly
will go to support Cambodian military-political groups whose claim to
authority in their country rests largely on the support of this nation?
And to what end, the loss of American lives in Cambodia, Mr. President,
to what end?
I ask unanimous consent that the articles be included at this
point in the Record.
Mike Mansfield Papers, Series 21, Box 47, Folder 68, Mansfield Library, University of Montana

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Transcript

CAMBODIA: THE HANDWRITING ON THE WALL
STATEMENT OF SENATOR MIKE MANSFIELD (D., MONTANA)
Mr. President:
.·,
~fr 1~,1t11
ee~~emee~ ~, ·9~·
A year and a half has elapsed since the military overthrow of
Prince Sihanouk and the subsequent U. s. incursion into Cambodia. At the
time, these events were hailed as quickening the end of the war in Viet
Nam. A year and a half later, the war still goes on and this obscure
episode of the long tragedy of Indochina is all but forgotten.
It is not forgotten, however, by the families of more than 350
Americans who died in the Cambodian invasion. Nor is it forgotten by the
hundreds of other Americans who were wounded in that brief campaign. Nor
is it forgotten, I should think, in Cambodian villages which have since
been bombed or burned, undoubtedly, in order "to save them."
In retrospect, what was really achieved by the Cambodian gambit?
Enemy Vietnamese forces--even the "high command"--were supposed to have
been killed or captured in their "sanctuary" along the Vietnamese-Cambodian
border by this essay. Well, to the extent that enemy forces were there in
the first place, they withdrew from the border and since then, about all of
Cambodia has become the enemy "sanctuary." Cambodia has also emerged as
another battlefield of the Indochina war over which Americans are flying
and dying. The indications are, moreover, that Cambodians are forming into
an expanding guerrilla force under the banner of Prince Sihanouk and,
together with their Vietnamese allies, have already taken control of most
of the countryside.
Mike Mansfield Papers, Series 21, Box 47, Folder 68, Mansfield Library, University of Montana
..
- 2 -
It should be noted, in this connection, that before the govern-ment
of Sihanouk was overthrown, nothing--zero--in the way of U. s. aid
was going from this nation to Cambodia. Nevertheless, Cambodians were
managing to live in a self-supporting and moderately progressive fashion.
Their country was an oasis of order in war-torn Indochina. In one and a
half years of coup-government in Pnom Penh the picture has been completely
reversed. Cambodia is being reduced to chaos and devastation, even as the
present Cambodian government is now well on its way to receiving its first
billion dollars in direct or indirect support from the United States. The
aid is going forth, moreover, notwithstanding our own financial difficulties.
In support of the Cambodian coup-government, this nation has
become deeply involved in the internal affairs of still another people
of Southeast Asia. The present Cambodian rulers are, for all practical
purposes, dependents of this nation and the indications are that U. s.
support--direct and indirect--is the sole significant prop which keeps
the political-military structure in Pnom Penh from falling apart. To
administer this support, the Executive Branch is rapidly expanding a
U. s. official mission in Cambodia which already numbers well over a
hundred Americans--civilian and military. The increase, I believe, comes
Mt~e t'h,., .,_.N• F•LJ.
to A in U. S. personnel in Cambodia in the year and a half since
the overthrow of Sihanouk. At the same time, aid is also being provided
indirectly by U. S. bombing here and there and everywhere in Cambodia in
support of Pnom Penh's so-called national forces.
Mike Mansfield Papers, Series 21, Box 47, Folder 68, Mansfield Library, University of Montana
- 3 -
I sometimes wonder how we let ourselves get involved in these
travesties of foreign policy which, rather than serve th1interests of
this nation give every appearance of being at complete odds with those
int erests. Cambodia is not t he first case of this kind, of course, but
it is certainly one of the most blatant.
The irony of this situation is that the trend' of present Cambodian
policy, insofar as I can see, runs strongly counter not only to the expressed
I
inclinations of theCongress but also to the Nixon Doctrine which was supposed
l
to provide the guidelines of that policy. Clearly, what is being done in
Canbodia in the name of the United States is a complete distortion of the
initiatives with regard to Cambodia which were taken by the President shortly
after he assumed office. At thet time, the President's aim was to restore
friendly relations with the kind of inner-based Cambodian government which
Prince Sihanouk was attemptipg to maintain in circumstances of tight-rope
difficulty. These were initiatives, may I say, which by request as well as
inclination, I sought, personally, to support at the time both here and in
Sout heast Asia.
A series of three articles on Cambodia by T. D. Allman which appear
in recent issues of the Manchester Guardian shed a good deal of light on the
factors which lead to t he making of ".Cambodia's" in United States foreign
policy. The art icles make clear t hat much of what has happened there has
been guided not so much by the President 's initiat ives or t he intent of
Congr ess but by t h e availability of copious funds which permit agencies of
t his government an easy indulgence in t hese questionable enterprises. In
t hat sense, the source of the difficulty is t o be sought, not in Cambodia,
Mike Mansfield Papers, Series 21, Box 47, Folder 68, Mansfield Library, University of Montana
- 4 -
but in certain Southeast Asian obsessions in the Executive Branch and a
somewhat indiscriminate readiness in the Congress, in the past, to finance
them.
What has happened in Cambodia highlights a problem that seems to
me to confront the Senate on an urgent basis. The Cambodian experience is
an admonition to curb the easy outflow of the financial resources of the
people of this nation which, for years, has been legislated in the name of
national defense and foreign aid. In the case of Cambodia, the hundreds of
millions of dollars already spent in a year and a half have done hardly any-thing
for the defense of this nation except, perhaps, to weaken it by wastage.
Nor have these expenditures helped the Cambodian people who have now been
reduced to the common denominator of the irrelevant devastation which has .
been suffered in Laos and Viet Nam.
The articles previously mentioned are not unrelated to the legisla-
~~~
tion which ~before us and to the foreign aid bill which will be coming
before us in the not too distant future. One might well ask how much of
the funds authorized in this bill will go for procurement of military materiel
to be exploded in or over Cambodia in the name of the defense of the United
,too,
States.~ How much/of the foreign aid bill that is coming to us shortly
will go to support Cambodian military-political groups whose claim to
authority in their country rests largely on the support of this nation?
And to what end, the loss of American lives in Cambodia, Mr. President,
to what end?
I ask unanimous consent that the articles be included at this
point in the Record.
Mike Mansfield Papers, Series 21, Box 47, Folder 68, Mansfield Library, University of Montana